If you want to build a house, you have to start with land. But acquiring land may not be as simple as it sounds. First, you have to find an available lot in the area you’d like to live. Then, you have to make sure it’s zoned for residential construction and has the characteristics and square footage that you desire – as well as the ability to be connected to utilities. Also, how many buildable lots even exist? Well, according to one recent analysis, there were just over 300,000 available empty lots for sale smaller than five acres in June on one of the most popular internet real-estate portals. That represented roughly 20-percent of all the for-sale listings available during that month, with the typical lot measuring just over a half-acre. In other words, there were enough available lots nationally to support a lot of homes. The analysis found that if one home was built on each of those available lots, it would cut the housing shortage by 6.3 percent. The states with the most empty lost were Florida, Texas, California, North Carolina, and Georgia. (source)
